Falls Church - 1 post

German Sierra, left, had no cooking experience when he left Honduras in 2000. Now head chef of Viet Taste restaurant in Falls Church, he learned to cook Vietnamese food in several kitchen jobs. Owner Thi Quach, right, taught Sierra Viet Taste's dishes by showing him: “I said, ‘this is how it’s supposed to be. This is how it tastes.’ "

| By Luz Lazo |

When German Sierra gets an order for a plate of bun cha hanoi, he knows exactly what to do.

He has cooked the pork dish — with noodles, greens and pickled vegetables — many times, and knows exactly how much fish sauce, salt and spices to add.

Outside his kitchen, the customers who are mostly Vietnamese are expecting to eat authentic Vietnamese cuisine. And Sierra makes them just that.

“When I left my country I never imagined that I would be cooking this food,” Sierra, 39, said in Spanish. “You come here ignoring all about other cultures and foods.”

A native of Honduras, Sierra has mastered the art of Vietnamese cuisine while working at Asian restaurants in the Washington region. As head chef of Viet Taste at the Eden Center in Falls Church, he cooks, reads and even speaks Vietnamese.